Be Careful What You Wish For…

The saying essentially says, Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!

And this may seem like piling on since Zach already published a piece about State Representative Brett Hulsey’s announcement that he will oppose Mary Burke for the Democratic ticket for Wisconsin Governor.

So now what does the party purist, anti-Burke contingent going to do? I can’t imagine a less viable Democratic candidate for governor than Rep. Hulsey in the whole state…really. MJS tagged his career as controversial…and I think that is being kind.

We’ll see if he even makes the primary ballot. sheesh!!

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19 thoughts on “Be Careful What You Wish For…

  1. Hulsey needs 2,000 signatures to get on the Democratic gubernatorial primary ballot in Wisconsin…I bet Republicans would have no problem signing his nominating petitions, as they may try to have their voters vote in the Democratic primary for Hulsey in an attempt to effectively guarantee Walker re-election.

    As far as the anti-Burke contingent on the left in Wisconsin, many of them would see Burke as the lesser of two evils compared to Hulsey and (reluctantly) vote for Burke.

  2. Ed,

    This doesn’t seem the right moment for this post. And if Dems keep referring to self identified progressives as ” party purists ” it actually makes it more likely they’ll stay at home out of spite. Party/Burke critics have a lot of legitimate gripes. In my case my early opposition to Burke was more about her un-electability than anything else, a point John Nichols drove home when he told Sly that Scott Walker would make the Chinese made Trek bike thing the most known fact in Wisconsin political history. I actually thought Vinehout had a better chance in the general election against Walker.

    Nobody left of Burke/Tate, nobody in their right mind anyway, would have recruited Brett Hulsey as their favored candidate. Be careful what you ask for, you bet. But no sane person asked for this.

    1. With you fully on your comment Steve. Hulsey (as said at Zach’s Hulsey post) has just stated a golden POPULIST MESSAGE that is not at all a PURIST concept. Plain easy language that in one day has waken a few people up. Embrace the MESSAGE, he’s right on with it, and there is no need to kill the messenger, offer him a job.

    2. Don’t try so hard to make my point for me. This is the perfect moment for this post. I wouldn’t have bothered to post about this since Zach had already done a fine job…but after reading diatribe after diatribe all weekend about Mary Burke, I was fed up to my eyeballs from the vitriol.

      And although I love Senator Vinehout and would have been circulating her nomination papers this week if she would have entered the race, my head tells me she wouldn’t have the support to beat Governor Walker.

      Yes, nobody left of Mary Burke would have recruited Rep. Hulsey…but nobody left of Mary Burke recruited ANYBODY. Fish or cut bait.

      BTW: all three my family’s Trek bikes were made in Taiwan…

  3. NQ,

    Half the battle is the message, the other half is the messenger. I don’t want Brett Hulsey carrying the progressive populist message in this race. Since he’s been elected to the assembly he’s consistently demonstrated extremely poor judgment. If he had any strategic sense at all he’d understand that his running for governor actually hurts the cause of progressivism in the public eye. In short, I’m not going to support Brett Hulsey.

    1. Giving him a job could also take him out of the spotlight, yes I’m aware of the baggage he owns and would not actively support him, but I’m all for hijacking the message he came out with and building on it. If not shifting to take his message to heart, Walker will win anyway with teh current pablum approach to campaigning from the, “left,”, (using that term advisedly). State park adjacent to a National Park could be the sustainable forever economic boost the NW direly needs.

      Coffee break over, later, nice to hear from you.

      1. No way should Democrats be giving Brett Hulsey a job. If Kathleen Vinehout would have run we would have had a real primary based on the issues and not a circus. If Mary Burke wins its because she is able to bring out lower income voters who vote Democratic in Presidential Years but do not vote in the Gubernatorial Off Years.

        1. If Democrats let being a loyal Democrat get in the way, Burke is sunk. We are engaged in a class war no matter how much some people want to ignore the fact. Democrats to a large extent have not figured out the obvious. Look who they elected in 2012 if you need proof of the concept of voting against one’s best interests.

          1. Progressives get the class warfare concept, plain old Democrats and Independents, less so. It’s a heck of a fine line Burke must walk. Too bad the Wisconsin gubernatorial election doesn’t coincide with the presidential elections. We know old and rich people will be out in force in November, I’m less certain of the poor or lower middle class.

            1. EmmaR,

              The VAN will tell Burke who voted for a first time in 2008, skipped 2010, and maybe voted again in 2012. Those are most likely the low income voters you’re describing. Burke needs to reach out to them or they won’t come out. A lot of them don’t understand anything other than presidential year politics. She needs to tell them she’d take the ACA Badgercare expansion money and would raise the minimum wage to at least $10.10. They might come out then.

            2. EmmaR,

              Trying to walk a fine line is the timidity we are already disappointed with and the chicken that Hulsey is publicizing. Standing with “parts,” of Act 10, allowing that maybe the Penokees can be mined, “safely,” and getting to $10.10 minimum wage over a time frame of a few years is the platform Team Burke already pronounced and will her potential base staying home. Running against Walker by being Walker isn’t cutting it, plain and simple.

              Steve, I’d be a bit less stereotypical with the low income voter definition these days. A lot of unemployed college degree holders in parent’s basements these days.

  4. A primary would allow everyone to see what Burke’s made of before she faces Walker. Not that I want a primary because this would bring the mischief voters out en masse, but maybe this would be a good and necessary practice run for a candidate who so far hasn’t shown a real aptitude for serious political battle.
    I have to say, the first thought I had when I heard about this was ‘wonder how Kathleen’s arm is healing?’.

    1. At this point its too late for a legitimate primary. Although I did not like the way the DPW went about in picking Mary Burke she is a lot better than what I thought she would be initially. I do think we can still win the Governors Election if we manage to get Democratic low income voters turned out.

        1. Exactly Sue. And what is Burke intending to do to reach out to those people and make them fired up to vote in Nov 2014.

          I was hoping Hulsey would at least give Burke a push to get out among the people and showcase her often-progressive stands. But then Hulsey pulled the chicken costume stunt, and now he can’t be taken remotely seriously.

          Can we find whoever wrecked the car with Vinehout in it and remind her just how damaging a wreck that’s looking right now? Burke can recover and win, but she (and the DPW) need to show a whole lot more than they are now.

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